Injury-plagued, he's mentoring future Reds

10:33 PM,
Mar. 20, 2013

Mark Prior went to Yankees camp in 2011 before a groin injury cut his minor-league season short.

Written by

C. Trent Rosecrans
The Cincinnati Enquirer

When Josh Ravin was drafted by the Reds in 2006, some of his teammates called him "Mark Prior" because he kind of looked like the right-hander, tall, threw like Prior, was from Southern California and, as he notes, has "huge calves," just like the the second pick in the 2001 draft.

Now, seven years later, when Ravin looks to his right from his locker in the Reds' minor league clubhouse, he sees the real thing.

There, at the end of a row, lies a nondescript locker, like all the others in the clubhouse, with the nameplate "Prior 22." Ravin knows exactly who is in the locker and why he's here now, even if ...